In preparation for the peace conference that was expected to follow World War I, in the spring of 1917 the British Foreign Office established a special section responsible for preparing background information for use by British delegates to the conference. Java and Madura is Number 82 in a series of more than 160 studies produced by the section, most of which were published after the conclusion of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. Java was the most populous island in what was then the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia). Madura is ...

This hand-colored engraving of the Dutch colonial capital of Batavia (present-day Jakarta) was created by Jan Van Ryne in 1754. Van Ryne was born in the Netherlands, but spent most of his working life in London, where he specialized in producing engravings of scenes from the British and Dutch colonies. Located at the mouth of the Ciliwung River, Jakarta was the site of a settlement and port possibly going back as far as the fifth century A.D. In 1619, the Dutch captured and razed the existing city of Jayakerta ...

This 1945 photograph shows women and children bathing at the Kampong Makassar internment camp near Batavia (present-day Jakarta) during World War II. After the Dutch East Indies fell to Japanese forces in 1942, many Dutch residents were forced into internment camps, where they stayed until the end of the war. At Kampong Makassar, which operated from January to August 1945, more than 3,600 women and children were held in a space measuring less than one square kilometer. The photograph is from the collections of the KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute ...

This photograph depicts Raden Saleh (1807-80), regarded by many scholars as the first modern artist from the Dutch East Indies. Saleh was born into a noble Javanese family and studied with a Belgian artist in the West Javan city of Bogor before going to study in the Netherlands. He spent 20 years in Europe before returning to his native country, where he lived for the remainder of his life, painting landscapes, local aristocrats, and conceptions of Javanese history. Saleh’s paintings reflect the romanticism popular in Europe at the time ...

This photograph shows the Willemskerk in Batavia (present-day Jakarta) as it appeared in the middle of the 1860s. Construction of the church began in 1834, after the Lutheran and Dutch Reformed congregations agreed to build a Protestant church in the city. Upon completion in 1839, it was named in honor of the Dutch king, Willem I, but was renamed Immanuel Church in 1948. The photograph was taken by the studio of Woodbury & Page, which was established in 1857 by the British photographers Walter Bentley Woodbury and James Page. The photograph ...

This dancer was part of a troupe of wandering entertainers who traveled through Java in the late 19th century, performing dances and puppet shows. Indonesian shadow puppetry, known as wayang kulit, is one of the world’s oldest storytelling traditions. Traditional Javanese dance began as a court ritual, but over time the dances incorporated many of the stories and traditions performed in the puppet theater. The photograph was taken by the studio of Woodbury & Page, which was established in 1857 by the British photographers Walter Bentley Woodbury and James Page ...

The young man depicted in this carte-de-visite photograph was the aide-de-camp to the ambassador of the Kingdom of Siam in the Dutch colonial capital of Batavia (present-day Jakarta). Siam established diplomatic relations with the Dutch East India Company as early as 1609, and the relationship continued after the government of the Netherlands took over governing the Dutch East Indies from the company. The photograph was taken by the studio of Woodbury & Page, which was established in 1857 by the British photographers Walter Bentley Woodbury and James Page. The photograph is ...

This photograph shows a Chinese bride in Batavia (present-day Jakarta) in her wedding dress. The commercial development of Batavia under the Dutch created numerous opportunities for immigrants from China, who became a favored minority and helped to support Dutch colonial rule. While many Chinese immigrants and their descendants adopted Dutch lifestyles by the late 19th century, others continued to identify with China and maintained Chinese customs and traditional dress. The photograph was taken by the studio of Woodbury & Page, which was established in 1857 by the British photographers Walter Bentley ...

This carte-de-visite photograph depicts an Arab in the Dutch colonial capital of Batavia (present-day Jakarta) preparing for the hajj. The Arabs in Southeast Asia generally were from the area of Hadramaut in the southern part of Arabia. During the 19th century, the number of Arabs immigrating to Asia increased, but they remained tied to their homeland and often used the wealth acquired in their new homes to finance projects in Arabia. Despite sharing their Muslim faith with native Indonesians, Arabs maintained separate communities, particularly during the colonial period. The photograph ...